Search - Little Mo' McCoury, Ronnie Mccoury, Del McCoury :: Little Mo' McCoury

McCoury's way to give a little something fun to his & other

J. Ross | Roseburg, OR USA | 09/09/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Playing Time - 48:29 -- There's a big push to get bluegrass music into the schools and to find other ways to enthuse school children about the genre. Ronnie McCoury's solo rendition of "My Friend, My Guitar" might just inspire kids to experience the fun of the G-run on their own. However, that original co-written with his wife Allison sounds a little undone without the added instrumental and vocal harmony support that characterize the rest of this project. It makes perfect sense for bluegrass bands to create albums of children's music perfect for sing-alongs. That's exactly what mandolinist/vocalist Ronnie McCoury has successfully done with the rest of The Del McCoury Band (Del McCoury, Rob McCoury, Jason Carter, Alan Bartram).



Such a project first needs to find the perfect (and appropriate) material that will hopefully garner it a Parent's Choice Foundation award. Despite the volumes of children's music available today, the band plays it fairly safe with family standards that have been recorded on children's albums for decades. There are plenty of traditional folk song favorites like "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "This Old Man." Many of the songs chosen have animal themes (Man Gave Names to All the Animals, Monkey and the Engineer, Goin' Ape, Teddy Bears' Picnic, The Fox). Some sound effects embellish the music, but if there's one thing that hurts children's albums is including kids in some of the songs like "This Land is Your Land" and "This Old Man." As cute as they seem, a bunch of kids singing "Fe-Fi-Fiddley-Eye-Ohs" can adversely impact the overall set. Also, each song is introduced with a child speaking the title of the cut, as well as offering up an occasional joke. While distracting from the music, kids might just remember the names of the songs that way. A few selections from the bluegrass repertoire include Earl Scruggs' "Mama's Blues," Jim Davis/Don Reno's "Barefoot Nellie," A. P. Carter's "Jimmy Brown the Newsboy" and one that was done by Jimmy Martin - Abe Mulkey/Bruce Delaney's "Goin' Ape." The former features Rob McCoury's fine talking banjo. There are also the obligatory train songs (I've Been Working on the Railroad, Monkey and the Engineer), as well as a gospel number (He's Got the Whole World in his Hands) before the project's lullaby closer played only on mandolin.



Besides "I've Been Working on the Railroad" and "The Fox," a number of the songs really do come vibrantly alive with bluegrass treatment. Written by Randy Newman in 1995 for the animated film Toy Story, "You've Got a Friend in Me" received nominations for Best Original Song at both the 1995 Academy Awards and 1996 Golden Globes. While "Teddy Bears' Picnic" is credited as a traditional number, it was actually written as a march in 1907 by John W. Bratton with lyrics added in 1932 by Jimmy Kennedy. Unfortunately, that oft-recorded song is given a leisurely, almost gloomy or ominous treatment that's a lot different than the way Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, or even Jerry Garcia did it. Played in a minor key, a nice cover of Bob Dylan's 1979 "Man Gave Names to All the Animals" provides insight as to how the cow, pig, sheep, and snake were named. Ronnie learned it from Tim O'Brien's rendition of the song.



Ronnie McCoury's been wanting to produce such an album since his first child was born about 1998. Since he's on the road so much, "Little Mo' McCoury" was really conceived as a way to give something to his and other families. Ron's got three children now, and his brother Rob has two. I'll bet that some of them are already learning to play that G-run up and down the neck of that ol' guitar. (Joe Ross, staff writer, Bluegrass Now)

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Little Mo' sings the old songs for the young ones

Robblegrass | St. Albert, AB CANADA | 04/03/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This CD was a lot of fun to listen to. It has some cool kid tunes, Americana tunes, even a Bob Dylan tune, all done Bluegrass style. And what a Blugrass band it is. It is the Del McCoury Band with a twist. It is Ronnie McCoury who steps up front and center handling all the lead vocals and mandolin parts while his dad, Del, sings tenor and plays guitar. Now these guys, Ronnie & Del sound so amazingly alike vocally that you would say they were cast from the same mold.

Even tho' the songs are kid songs ( kinda ) it's all great Bluegrass. There is even kids singing on the chorus's on some songs.

If you like Del you'll like Ronnie & this is a great CD to introduce kids to Bluegrass."